Cecil Rigby, 2023 Modjeska Simkins School graduate
Just as Modjeska Simkins School students learn about South Carolina’s indigenous peoples’ struggles for just treatment, we see them take yet another hit courtesy of the Trump Administration.
In 2022, the Biden Administration started the “Local Food Purchase Assistance” program, a cooperative agreement between the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture (SCDA) that resulted in the Catawba Nation receiving $6.1 million in LFPA funds. SCDA was responsible for administering $4.7 million of that total.
Using these federal funds, SCDA contracted with aggregators to buy food from local, socially disadvantaged producers to distribute free to underserved populations in the state.
Under new orders, that program is now terminated.
USDA states “The intent of the program is to target Socially Disadvantaged. For the purpose of this program, “socially disadvantaged” is a farmer or rancher who is a member of a Socially Disadvantaged Group. A Socially Disadvantaged Group is a group whose members have been subject to discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and, where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program. While purchasing from socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers is not a requirement, it is a target. Proposals should include the steps the applicant will take to target this population.”
USDA notified states on Friday that it was unfreezing funds for existing LFPA agreements but did not plan to carry out a second round of funding for fiscal year 2025.
Until now, LFPA food was distributed in 24 South Carolina underserved counties — more than half. Those counties were identified based on their unemployment, poverty rates, rural classification, remote classification, and current distribution of food. They include: Abbeville, Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Cherokee, Clarendon, Colleton, Dillon, Edgefield, Georgetown, Greenwood, Hampton, Horry, Jasper, Lee, Marion, Marlboro, McCormick, Oconee, Orangeburg, Pickens, Union, and Williamsburg counties.
All 24 counties have expansive food deserts. Unfortunately, things are about to be worse for people in these areas.
The Catawba Nation’s efforts to provide healthy food to its citizens include Black Snake Farm, a 22-acre farm made possible through the LFPA’s “Plus” program during the pandemic. The grant from USDA was to provide enough funding to purchase food for the market until December 2026.
The farm works to grow healthy and fresh food that can go into tribal households throughout the year. They “hope that in the future this farm can feed Catawba families and serve as a source for easily accessible food.”
Statewide, SCDA agreements under this and similar programs were expected “to impact over 800,000 students at 124 School Food Authorities. Of this total, SCDA estimated that at least 213 thousand students in underserved areas” would receive increased access to local foods.
Why would anyone expect any attempts to receive reparations for past injustices have any chance to succeed when such a wealthy nation as ours withdraws basic assistance like this from its most deserving citizens?
Attempts and hopes to build community economics that are decoupled from exploitative systems of production and trade are being smothered in the crib yet again.